Recently there has been an increased interested in protecting commercial aircraft from attacks carried out by means of a class of shoulder fired ground to air missile system known as a Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS). It is believed that the vulnerability of commercial aircraft to such systems may be greatest when such aircraft are at relatively lower altitudes (e.g., 10,000 feet), which most often occurs during take off and landing sequences.
During such take off and landing sequences, if an aircraft becomes aware of such a threat, the aircraft typically automatically launches countermeasures. It is desirable for the aircraft to also inform an air traffic controller of the threat. Typically, when an aircraft notifies the air traffic controller of any threat, the notification is not covert, but instead, a verbal communication, thereby causing panic and allowing those who caused the threat to test the countermeasure system of the aircraft for blind spots by triggering false alarms and monitoring communication channels for data.
Unfortunately, cost for modification prohibits modification of systems used by air traffic controllers for communication with the aircraft for purposes of communicating with the aircraft in a non-verbal manner. In addition, at different locations there are many different types of systems used by air traffic controllers for communication with aircrafts regarding threats. Therefore, it would be difficult and expensive to modify each of the systems used by air traffic controllers for purposes of allowing aircrafts to communicate non-verbally with the air traffic controllers.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.